With gun violence down in St. Paul, city and community leaders said Friday they’re going to continue the trend this summer with programs to keep young people learning, working and having fun.

Nonfatal shootings have dropped 64 percent so far this year, compared to the same time in 2021, and homicides have also decreased year-over-year.

St. Paul announced Project PEACE in July 2022, which is ongoing. The aim has been to reduce retaliation for street crime by connecting individuals and families impacted by gun violence with mental health support and other holistic intervention services. Part of the effort is the police department’s Operation ASPIRE, which has officers working on prevention, intervention and enforcement involving gun violence.

Brooke Blakey, director of St. Paul’s Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS), said it’s important to talk about the positive work that’s being done, rather than only highlighting various organizations’ preventive work when a tragedy happens.

Public safety is the job of police, the fire department, Parks and Recreation, the libraries, ONS and community partners, said Mayor Melvin Carter at the kickoff gathering for what the city is calling “Safe Summer 2024.”

When Carter created ONS in 2022, the goal was balancing “investments in emergency response with an array of community-led strategies focused on addressing the root causes of crime,” he said. “Our neighbors know what our neighborhoods need best.”

Preliminary numbers show there were 29 nonfatal shootings in St. Paul as of Monday, compared to 49 during the same time last year, 76 in 2022 and 81 in 2021, according to the police department. There have been 10 homicides in St. Paul this year; there were 15 at this time last year.

Youth programming around St. Paul

Among the community members who talked about their work Friday was Natalia Davis of Take a Breath LLC. She’s hosted healing circles at several St. Paul recreation centers and elsewhere, where she teaches young people breathing techniques to manage grief and anxiety and deal with trauma.

This summer, she’ll be at Safe Summer Nights in St. Paul to teach breathing techniques to bring about calmness. Safe Summer Nights started in 2014, intended for St. Paul police and residents to get to know each other over a meal.

At the Black Youth Healing Arts Center at 643 Virginia St. in St. Paul, where Davis is artistic director, she said there will be free summer programming like yoga, gardening, sewing and Afro dance classes.

Johnny Allen Jr. is founder and executive director of the JK Movement, a nonprofit youth engagement organization that works out of the Jimmy Lee Rec Center. Their free summer programs include SAQ (Speed, Agility, Quickness) for middle and high school students; a digital art class for second and third graders; a Monday through Thursday, 4-7 p.m. program for middle and high schoolers; and career programs for young people about commercial real estate, construction, music and more.

There’s also St. Paul’s Right Track, where city residents who are 14 to 21 can get a summer job, Blakey said.

People can get more information through organization websites or social media, and there’s also outreach to get people signed up.

“They really do engage with community … for those individuals that are in that gap, that aren’t necessarily the ones who are going to go to a website, or the people we see in the neighborhoods who need opportunities,” said Blakey, who was at the White House on Wednesday with other people in the violence prevention field to further develop a national collaborative approach.

St. Paul’s ONS awarded $478,800 in gun violence prevention grants last year to community organizations — three have received funding and others are in the process of signing contracts. Another $400,000 is earmarked for grants this year and the application process is due to open soon, according to the city.

Related Articles

Lake Elmo woman who was missing since Thursday night found safe, BCA says

St. Paul City Council, mayor’s office still wrangling with special event costs

Pedestrian struck last week on South Robert Street in West St. Paul dies

Weather hampers search for 2 canoeists missing in Boundary Waters after waterfalls plunge

How gun violence spread across American cities

The Northern Iron and Machine Foundry on St. Paul’s East Side has temporarily reduced its workforce by 15% — some 17 workers — in response to air quality restrictions imposed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, according to an announcement Friday from the company.

Northern Iron notified the affected employees Friday that the change in their employment status will be effective immediately.

Located on Forest Street, the century-old foundry has been under pressure from the MPCA to better control emissions and upgrade its air quality controls through a formal permitting process.

The company was fined more than $41,000 last fall for making changes to air quality control equipment without an updated permit. In April, the MPCA issued an administrative order giving Northern Iron 30 days to bring operations into compliance with air quality standards. That deadline was May 17.

Modeled pollution data showed it was “highly likely the foundry exceeded the national air quality standards for lead and particulate matter,” reads a recent statement released by the MPCA. Calling air quality monitors installed by the MPCA near the foundry inconsistent in their readings, Northern Iron has maintained that “lead emission levels are well below the level considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.”

For particulate matter, “the data from the monitor does not have any correlation to the hours of operation of the facility and is inconsistent by day,” reads a statement issued by the company. “It does not appear to demonstrate that Northern Iron is out of compliance with particulate in the air.”

In late April, the company requested a stay to the administrative order, and the MPCA denied that stay on May 16, noting at the time that the facility could not demonstrate it had complied with the order.

Last week, Northern Iron filed a petition for review and an order for a temporary injunction against the MPCA in Ramsey County District Court.

The court this week ordered Northern Iron and the MPCA into mediation before a third party, which must be completed by May 31. Mediation is scheduled for next Thursday. The administrative order remains in place while legal action proceeds, according to the statement from the MPCA.

The company maintains it is being held liable for permitting issues dating back 15 years or more that occurred under previous ownership. The Lawton Standard companies of suburban Green Bay, Wis., acquired Northern Iron in 2022.

Related Articles

Judges, colleagues offer Memorial Day cookout at downtown St. Paul homeless shelter

Man fatally shot on Green Line platform in St. Paul was 23-year-old from Mounds View

St. Paul credit union program pairs borrowing and saving to financially empower underserved communities

Cooper’s Foods to close West Seventh Street store in St. Paul, the family-run grocer’s last location

Pioneer Press 2024 patio guide has something for everyone

The Timberwolves entered Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Friday at Target Center having not exactly taken advantage of “home-court advantage” in these playoffs.

Through 12 postseason bouts, the Wolves were 5-1 away from home and 3-3 in Minneapolis. That’s despite Target Center truly rocking on a game-by-game basis.

So, what gives?

“We were talking about this, too,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “I mean, we got to find ways to be better. I think sometimes at home you have more noise, more distractions.”

The Wolves believe their biggest competition is themselves. Can they maturely handle noise — especially positive noise? Ahead of Game 3 in their West semifinal series against the Nuggets and again ahead of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Minnesota returned home and received heaps of praise amid multiple days off, then laid eggs in the following contests.

Distractions are aplenty. And they’re amplified at home.

That’s because, Gobert noted, everyone wants to be a part of winning and success. The people around you want to celebrate the victories with you.

“Everybody wants to come home, to come see you play, everybody wants to come to your house. Friends or family, everyone wants to be a part of that when you’re winning,” Gobert said. “But you’re winning because you’re also locked in and you’re able to be in your own bubble, so I think everyone is on the same page now and understands that everything we need is in this locker room, and through adversity or great moments, we’re going to believe that and in the people in this locker room.”

Gobert told his teammates it’s important to establish boundaries.

“Tell your people that you’re trying to accomplish something,” Gobert said. “When it’s done, if we have to celebrate, celebrate. Now, we got to recover, have peace of mind. Have to be the most friendly to recovery and friendly to peace of mind.”

Easier said than done. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch likes the “bunker mentality” that can be achieved on the road. Everything through the day of a road game is about the game. That’s not realistic at home. Gobert, Anthony Edwards and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, for instance, are all new fathers.

Gobert said he wishes he could spend more time with his 2-week-old son. He’d love to lie on the couch and sleep with him.

“But I have to make decisions on the timing,” Gobert said. “I’ve been working my (butt) off every day for 11 years to get to this point. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions. Thankfully he has a great mom taking care of him.”

Gobert said his girlfriend has allowed him to get valuable sleep and taken on numerous responsibilities with their newborn.

“Even though I also spend a lot of time with them, but sleep for me is the most important,” Gobert said. “I think it’s also a great balance for me in the midst. I’ve always been so driven on my routine and on success and winning and all these things that having that balance of sometimes just turning that off and spending some real genuine moments with my kid and with her, it just helps be even better when I come back into work mode. It’s been an amazing few weeks so far.”

Gobert is still laser-focused on the task at hand. He knows how fleeting these opportunities are.

“I always dreamed about being a champion. It’s always been my goal, winning a championship, when I was in Utah, since I got in the league,” Gobert said. “When I got traded here, the first thing that I said is that I believe. I believe in this organization. I believe in the group. I believe in the team these guys are trying to build. I’m really grateful that they believed in me to try to help this team get to the next level. For me, and for this organization, we are now in a territory that we haven’t been before, and for this team and for this group, and I’m enjoying the moment. There’s nothing I want more right now than a championship, so I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

AWARDS ROLL IN

Anthony Edwards was rolling in trophies doled out by the NBA for its fan favorites of the year. Edwards won in three separate categories: dunk of the year and photo of the year, both for his iconic slam over John Collins in Utah, as well as block of the year for his game-saving swat at the buzzer in Indiana.

Edwards noted he was thankful for the honors but chose not to keep the trophies for himself. He gave one each to valuable members of the coaching staff: Javair Gillett (vice president of sports science and performance), Chris Hines (player development coach) and David Hines (vice president of medical operations and performance therapy).

Related Articles

Twenty years ago, Timberwolves captivated Minnesota. That group is living vicariously through this playoff run.

If Timberwolves can’t physically dominate Mavericks, they’ll have to out-execute them

St. Paul’s Sean Sweeney is the defensive mastermind behind Dallas Mavericks’ Game 1 win over Timberwolves

Dane Mizutani: Anthony Edwards is the best player on the Timberwolves. They need him to play like it.

Luka Doncic carries Dallas past the Wolves late to steal Game 1 in Minnesota